Pen



WON BOLTON.

PEN,

APPLIOATION FILED JUNE e, 1907.

Patented Aug. 10, 14909.

ort-ffies.

WERNER 'von BoLToN, or cnARLoTrniusineo,I enelvlannssslonoa To istantanee milena,

i raie., oF BERLIN, sanitarie-, A'ooRPoa-AEron or enen-any.

@para l massages-1.,

Specification of Letters Patent.` p

ententes aeg.. lo, was..

original application alsa reame' la; laos, serial no. Melee. 'y 'aimee aaa nas-apsncaauaaleasua raar,

, serial No. 'arenas- To all whom 'it may concern;

Be it known that I, 'WERNER von BOLTON, a subject ofthe Czar of Russia, and resident of Charlottenburg, near Berlin, Gren many, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Pens, of which the following is a. specification.

My present application constitutes divisional application E of my original application, tiled February 17, 1905, serially nul'nbered 246,189.

My invention relates to pens, by which I mean to indicate instruments adapted for writing, drawing and analogous uses.

More particularly the invention comprises a peli in which the nib, or flexible portion is. composed of substantially pure talltalum, the

shank being formed of any suitable material, such as steel, tantalum, or the like. Absolutely pure metal is rare, but for the purposes of this invention, a metal which is so nearly pure as to have substantially or practically the same properties asthe pure metal and which is therefore substantially pure, may be enlployed. .Heretofore such instruments have been mde of other materials, such as steel, gold or other metals, or of glass, stone or the like. They should be very hard to enable them to resist the tendency to Wear.

ing out, but'at the same time they should have considerable resilience or flexibility, and also be able to resist the attack of the Writing fluids or other. detrimental agencies.

According to my present' invention, l'emf` ploy in place of the heretofore used materials a substance which has the advantages of all the heretofore used substances, but lacks their disadvantages. Furthermore it has advantages which noncof the materials heretofore employed Vfor similar purposes' possess. This material is substantially pure tantalum. lt possesses like steel the property of being easily worked and hardened, and at the same time offers greater resistance to fracture and has greater elasticity orA flexibility. Its hardness can be increased to such a degree as to greatly elo ceed that of the best kinds of steel, and even 'that of the usually employed stones. With. regard to the greatest degree of hardness `which it can attain, it is almost equal to thediamond. lt llas the further advantage over .steel in being one of the` precious metals which is not affected by the atmosphere and wllicll at ordinary temperatures completely resists' the action ot most acids. All this is of course of greatimportance 'in the article ormin the subject matter of my inventionlI l t e accompanying drawing, l have shown by Way-of example two forms of pens constructed in accordance with my invention.

Figure l is a top plan view of a pen constructed of substantially pure tantaluln, Whereas, ig. 2 is a top plan' View of a pen having its nib of substantially pure tantalum With a shank of steel. A

In order to be able, 'to work the metal 'properly it must previously be woll fused.

By the fusing process the tantaluln is freed fl'gm impurities and rendered homoi'geneous;A

The fusing is best accon'll'llished by means of the electric current ill a vacuum. After the lnetal has been thus melted it can easily be worked ,mechanically in any known manner. lt can be hammered,v rolled, drawn,

filed and the like, and thereby brought into any desired form. When being mechanically worked, especially if it contains a small. quantity lf-carbon or other hardening lne- 'diulmthe metal readily assumes so great a degree otrhardness that further working is rendered impossible 'and lt` must then be carefully-reheated or annealed in order to be rendered soft again. lli this annealing process care must be taken that the temperature dtes not rise too high, as 'otherwise the metal is more easily attacked by the oxygen of the atmosphere. The metal will, however, even 'in the form of the iinest drawn wires or thinnest rolled bands, stand a heating ill the airlup to a dark red heat temperature, Without being appreciably aliected. Then so heated the metal shows ay coloration silnilar to tempered steel. In order to prevent too great a heating, especially of fine parts of pure tantalum, it is preferable `to effect the heating indirectly by .bl-inging large plates or drums to the temperature to which .the parts to be heated are required to be loo brought, and thento bring the objects of" tantalum'into contact with these plates or drums. lf, on the other hand, lt 1s deslred to raise theobjects of tantalunl to high tem.

peratures, Without being lnateriallyatlected on their surfaces, it ls advantageous to effeet the heating in a vacuum., as at very high' temperatures, metallic talltalumcornbines with almost all known substances. The

lleatingnial tbeyacuum is preferably 'carried :,ically pens composed of Substantially ont by electriealineans, such as electrical re'- sistance, or directly by passing' 'the electric current through the objects to be heated. As metallic tantaluin is at presenti/'ery expensive, only those parts need be made of tantalnin that. are directly subject to Wear and exposure9 'for instance, the writing point or flexible portion of the pens. v

i, In my present application, I claim specifipure ftantalum, the other'parts of my lnvention -being protected in applications divided from niy original ary J7, which this application is also a division. 15

application, filed F0brn- 1905, serially nnxnherml Qlldh'll, of

I claim: A pen having a nih portlon composed of substantially pnre tanlalnm.

WERNER V( )N BOLTON. lVitnesseS:

VOLDEMAR HAUPT, llnNnY Hasrnn. 

